Maritimer of the Week

For the past 30 years, Anita Brine has been knitting mittens every day, year round for the less fortunate.

She says it’s her way of giving back to her community of Sackville, N.B.

“When I know I am doing something that is important, I hate to put it down” she says.

However, Brine admits she needs to take a break from time to time.

“Well, sometimes if I sit a length of time, my arms get tired and I have to put it down. And then when they are alright, I get right back at it,” she says.

Brine’s daughter, Jane McWhirter, says her mother used to knit as part of a team.

“Her sister was doing it with her and was very upset when she lost partial eyesight and was unable to do it,” says McWhirter.

“They would swap yarn back and forth.”

However, working solo hasn’t slowed Brine down.

She spends hundreds of hours each year kitting and on Friday she donated 140 pairs of mittens to the Sackville Community Association for their annual “Christmas Cheers” campaign.

Brine says this is the most she has knitted in a year, and the mittens will be distributed to needy families and individuals around town.

“We have a number of folks who knit for us every year, but we don’t have anybody, I am quite sure, who has knit as many mittens for as many years as Anita has knit. It has just been amazing,” says Janet Geier, a member of the Sackville Community Association.

Brine believes everyone deserves warm and stylish hands.

“The enjoyment of being able to do it, I love every minute while I am doing, yup, I do.” she says.

“I believe that every stitch she puts in there is a stitch of love” says McWhirter.

Congratulations to Anita Brine, our Maritimer of the Week!

If you know someone deserving of our Maritimer of the Week award, we want to hear about it.

It doesn’t matter how old they are, the nature of the good deed they’ve done, or what part of the region they live in – we want your ideas!